The evening began with an introduction of CARP UK and what Share My Passion events are about. Students and CARP members joined the audience as we opened the evening. Later a few more students trickled in as we started our activities. Yu-Jin Endo, our MC for the evening walked us through a fun and enlightening ice-breaker game. Yu-jin explained the ice-breaker to be a game, where each person in the audience explained to the group what they are passionate about and why. It was fascinating to learn something new about an old friend and a new friend. It allowed the group to open up and get acquainted with one another. In total there were 12 people in attendance.

Our speaker, Hyo-Joo Song

Animated explanations from Hyo-Joo

Swiftly moving us onto the main feature of the event, Yu-Jin gave a short introduction to Hyo-Joo’s talk. Hyo-Joo is a 23 year old, 3rd year student of Philosophy and Sociology of Education at UCL. Hyo-Joo was born and raised in New Zealand until his family moved permanently to the UK in the early 2000’s. After, he began training on a new Korean martial arts style called Won Hwa Do.

One listener sharing his thoughts

The title of his talk was ‘The Longest Fight You’ll Ever Have’. Hyo-Joo gave a very enthralling, yet deep sharing of his passion for The Martial Arts. He went into depth about the origins and evolution of The Martial Arts and even its culture. It was a fascinating talk that not only enlightened the audience, but gave us a very holistic view of how Martial Arts can provide mental, spiritual and, of course, physical well-being and how it can allow us to become wholesome and well-rounded people!

Hyo-joo began by exploring how the Martial Arts helped to serve the evolution of culture worldwide, eventually becoming a big part of popular culture. However, through its rapid movement, difficult and divided on-going debates have arisen, that Martials Arts is still experiencing. This is debate on contemporary and new styles conflicting with the traditional points of Martial Arts. Hyo-joo brought to light that both styles of Martial Arts can make for a great form of art, because of what they both offer, such as timing, striving to be a greater person, technique and learning to incorporate different Martial Art cultures. This allows one to become a practical and great Martial Artist, as this helps us to adapt to all aspects of life. “A realistic sense of one’s capabilities, yet an understanding of how one may get to one’s goals… There’s a balance to these two schools of thought.”

One listener, Angel, sharing her thoughts

Hyo-joo enlightened us with a few key quotes from movers and shakers of not only the Martial Arts, but of society, that explain the important lessons that Martial Arts taught them for life. ‘Life is growth. If we stop growing spiritually and physically then we are as good as dead’- Morihei Ueshiba. Hyo-joo shared how some of these professionals such as Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson inspired him in his youth. Continuing on with the talk, the audience got to learn about Won Hwa Do, Hyo-joo’s choice of MA, and how he uses Won Hwa Do to endure and overcome difficulties in life.“It’s better to be equipped with these things than to not be.”

“If you are not contributing to something in the world, not leaving behind something, then why are you here?”
It was enriching for the audience to glean from Hyo-Joo how we can love doing something we truly want to do and be ‘the greatest’ at it and how these greats of the past truly endured difficulties in their lives, the longest fights they’d ever had.
We’ll provide info on how to get involved in Won Hwa Do and how to join his classes soon!